Category — Design

A couple of years ago I had the pleasure of attending a design conference and listening to Brian Collins, Chief Creative Officer of the Brand Innovation Group at Ogilvy & Mather, discuss the launch of Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty. Working with Dove, Brian’s team created and designed the traveling exhibit “Real Beauty.” Sixty women photographers were invited to define real beauty in any way they wished; the resulting images, many of them unexpected and iconoclastic, ‘challenge the damaging feminine cliches perpetuated by advertising.’

The following ads, which feature images of women of varying ages, shapes, sizes, and colors, have renewed debate about images of women in the media. The women in these ads are proud to show off their curves, their wrinkles. “The Campaign for Real Beauty supports the Dove mission: to make women feel more beautiful every day by challenging today’s stereotypical view of beauty and inspiring women to take great care of themselves.”

This video is part of the Dove Self-Esteem Fund, created as an agent of change to educate and inspire girls on a wider definition of beauty and to make them feel more confident about themselves. I think that this is awesome, and so necessary.

As a designer, campaigns like this make me proud of what I do, and make me want to do more. I want to make a difference. As a woman, I can proudly say that these ads and images have affected my view of my body and my self-image. I love who I am, and I want to be healthy for me, not skinny for everyone else. I celebrate my curves, and my freckles and my (someday) wrinkles. And even those two gray hairs that keep coming back.